Bangalore experiences aftershocks of quake

BANGALORE: Bangalore and many areas across the state experienced tremors caused by the earthquake measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale in Indonesia on Wednesday afternoon. Although many people experienced the tremors, there was no loss of life or property.The Meteorological Department said many areas in Bangalore East felt two tremors in the day. “The first one was the stronger tremor, felt at 2.08 pm, which was followed by another one at 4.11 pm,” said Puttanna, director, MET Department, Bangalore.Since MG Road was the first place in the city to feel the first tremor, a disaster management team immediately rushed ambulances and fire tenders to the Cauvery Emporium signal on the road. News spread that the Bangalore Metro would halt operations for the day, but the BMRCL clarified that their services were not affected.In many areas across the city, people came out their houses and offices after they experienced the first tremor. “I felt my chair and door shaking at around 2:10 pm when I was having lunch. All of us got out of the building,” said B R Krishnamurthy, a businessman operating from M G Road. Many other shopkeepers in the area had the same “strange” experience. As the news spread, a large number of people rushed out of the buildings in many parts of the city. The occupants of the 21-storey Vishveshwarayya Tower on Queens Road poured out on to the main road, even though there was no tremor felt in the building. “We did not feel any major tremor, but for 2-5 seconds we could feel things moving in our office. We were told to immediately leave the campus and so we headed home,” said Jagannath, a government employee.Areas like Madiwala, Whitefield, Ulsoor, R T Nagar, Bannerghatta Road, J P Nagar, Padmanabhanagar, Electronic City, Kodichikkanahalli and K R Puram too experienced tremors.Other parts of the state also felt the tremors, causing panic among people, especially in coastal areas like Mangalore and Udupi. People in Mysore, Kolar, Hubli and Davangere also felt mild tremors.